Improvement in stretching and drying cloth



. UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE."

DANIEL STEARNS AND HENK-X STEAQRNS, OE PITTSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN YSTRETGHINCi A-ND DRYING CLOpTH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 10,1545, dated February 21,1S54.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, DANIEL SrEARNs and HENRY STEARNS, manufacturers of woolen goods, of Pittsfield, in the county of Berkshire and State of Massachusetts, havel invented, made, and applied to use certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Stretching and Drying Cloth; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a plan of the machine complete. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, and Fig. 3 is a crosssection through the line A A. Fig. 4 is a plan, and Fig. 5 a side elevation, of the tenter-truck to stretch the cloth.

The like marks of reference designate the same parts in al1 the ligures.

Our invention consists of improvements on the means for stretching and drying cloth, which have already been patented to Erastus B. Bigelow September 5,1S48; and it consists of a means for stretching the cloth, whereby it is quickly brought to the requisite tension and retained with the edges of the cloth parallel until completely dry. At the same time the apparatus is adapted for different or slightly-varying widths of cloth, and the cloth is relieved from strain before it passes off the tenter-hooks, thus avoiding liability to tear or stretch the cloth on the hooks. lVe also provide a means for heating and partially drying the cloth before it is stretched on the tenterhooks.

Bis a stationary cylinder heated with steam.

a a are curved bearings with holes l to receive the journals of the guide-roller-b, and c is a roller supported on the frame of the machine.

The cloth in its wet state is passed over the roller b and beneath the steam-cylinder B and up past the roller c to be hooked onto the tenter-hook, as hereinafter set forth. If the cloth is very wet, the roller b is placed near the top of the bearings a, so as to present more surface to the steam-heated cylinder; but if not so wet the roller b may be placed farther down, by which arrangement the cloth is heated and partially dried before being stretched.

d d are the lixed side frames of the machine,

connected by the cross-pieces e. f are two pulleys on a shaft 2, supported in bearings at the end of the frame, and g g are a similar pair of pulleys at the back end `of the machine, set on a shaft 3. l

h h are fast and loose pulleys at the back end of the machine. f

4 is a pinion, and 5 a wheel on the shaft 3, by which the pulleys may be given a slow motion. f

't' are grooved sills through a mortise, in

which the cross-pieces e pass freely, so that Y the sills can be slid on the cross-pieces. k are similar sills on-the line of the lower side of the pulleys f and g, setting over the crosspieces e.

ll are adjusting-bars with right and left handed screws near the ends, which enter nuts fixed within the sills z' and lo, so that by rotatin g these screws by means of a square on the end and a key or similar means the sills will be either brought nearer together or opened wider. These ways are made to converge from the point?1 tsward the end at which the cloth is supplied, and the pulleys f are nearer together than the pulleys g.

A pair of endless belts m, of leather, pass around the pulleys f and g and travel within the grooves in the sills 1l and 7c and have attached to them at proper distances the tentertrucks n, which are made, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, with a roller o, running against the interi'or face of the groove in the sills.

6 is the tenter-hook to receive the cloth, and :c is a bar to keep the back part ofthe tenter-truck from rising by the strain of the cloth.

j) is a brush on standards 7 that in its rotation lays the fibers or nap of the cloth before drying, and q is a brush with short stiff bristles or teasels to brush up or loosen the nap ready for shearing. This brush operates on the cloth just before it is delivered dry from the machine. It will be seen that the first brush lays the ibers straight while wet to prevent them from drying in knots or lumps, and the last brush raising the nap ready for shearing avoids the necessity of running the I cloth through a separate machine for this purpose.

s is a range of small steam-pipes, as near together as possible, close under the cloth as it is stretched on the tenter-hooks, and tare two ranges of pipes between which the cloth is carried in returning beneath the apparatus.

We prefer that the cloth should be hooked onto the tenter-hooks by hand, so as to pull it straight, and it will be seen that the endless belt of tenter tr'ucks and hooks traveling in the sills first stretch the cloth WidthWise-,and so retain it With the sides parallel until dry. The cloth and belts passing around the pulleys g and the tenter-trucks traveling in the parallel sills Zakeep the cloth stretched unt-i1 it arrives at a point beneath the converging points r, when, as the belts converge and the strain is relieved, the cloth drops olf by its own Weight without being damaged by being pulled off the tenter-hooks while under strain.

We are aware that in the before-mentioned patent the cloth is gradually stretched While being dried; but by the use of the flexible belts We are enabled to stretch the cloth its full Width before drying While hot and wet, at which time the cloth will stretch easier,

and being carried parallel While drying the not aware that any arrangement has before been made similar to that herein shown of parallel adjustable Ways with converging end s to accomplish the purposes specified, and the use of a steanrheated cylinder to partially dry the cloth before stretching is important as effecting a removal of surplus moisture, but leaving sufcient to alloT of the cloth being stretched and in the drying operation retaining its Width.

Vhatwe desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. The means herein shown for stretching the cloth While wet and carrying the same parallel While being dried, consisting of the endless belt of tenter-hooks traveling in adjustable Ways to accommodate different Widths of cloth, which ways are parallel to each other except at the ends, Where they converge to allow the cloth to be hooked on, and stretch the same as it is moved forward, as specified, and in combination with the above parts for stretching the cloth We claim converging the ways at the delivery end to relieve the strain on the cloth and allow the same to pass off the tenter-hooks Without tearing, as specified.

2. The heating-cylinder B and its adjustable roller a, so arranged as to keep the cloth in contact With any desired portion of the cylinder to heat and partially dry the cloth the amount required before it is stretched on the tenter-hooks, as described and shown.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our signatures this 26th day of March, 1853.

DANIEL STEARN S. y HENRY STEARNS. Witnesses:

JOHN E. DODGE, ALMraoN D. FRANCIS. 

